Universal ventilating shade device



Oct. 21, 1958 v. K SMITH UNIVERSAL VENTILATING SHADE DEVICE Filed Sept. 21. 1954 Fig. 2

llllll 19 I04 United States Patent 2,856,840 UNIVERSAL VENTILATING SHADE DEVICE Vaughn K. Smith, Drexel Hill, Pa. Application September 21, 1954, Serial No. 457,515 4 Claims. (Cl. 98-88) This invention relates to a universal shade device and has for an object the provision of a device that performs the concurrent functions of excluding light from a room, while at the same time admitting ventilation thereto, and by reason of its improved and novel construction is adapted for use on window openings or the like over a substantially large range of sizes.

In recent years there has been an increasing use of visual aids in educational programs. Such visual aids include the practice of projecting pictures, or the like, upon a screen in one manner or other, and in order for the pupils in the classroom clearly to see the projected material it is necessary to darken the room. When the rooms are air-conditioned, this may be readily accomplished by placing a shade over the windows to prevent the entry of light. However, since many of the classrooms are not air-conditioned, a serious problem is presented since it is both necessary to exclude the light from the room, while at the same time retaining ventilation from the windows.

Heretofore, various forms of ventilating shade devices have been provided with varying degrees of success. However, such prior art devices have been subject to at least one major disadvantage, that disadvantage being that each device has been required to be tailor-made to the particular window on which it is employed. Another disadvantage has been the inability adequately to eliminate the flapping noise resulting from the air moving the shades.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilating shade device of universal construction so that it may be readily adapted for use on windows covering a wide range of sizes and at the same time be of relatively low cost construction. It is a further object of the invention to provide a device that concurrently prevents light from entering a window in a room without preventing the entry of ventilating air and without raising the background noise level in the room.

The invention in one form thereof provides a ventilating shade device including an air-deflector plate or element having a length at least as great as the width of the window opening. A flexible shade, preferably of the roller type, having a width at least as great as the width of the window opening, is supported from the air-deflector element. A pair of gripping devices are supported from the deflector element and adjustable lengthwise thereof into detachable gripping relation with the sides of the window frame surrounding the window opening.

For a more detailed disclosure of the invention and for further objects and advantages thereof, reference is to be had to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane indicated by the lines 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 2A is a fractional view of a modification for supporting the flexible shade at the top of the window frame; and

Fig. 3 is a fractional view, in perspective, of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, taken from the reverse side.

Referring to the drawings, the invention has been illustrated in one form as applied to a window opening surrounded by a plurality of window frame members 10a--10d. The ventilating shade device includes an airdeflector element 11 which has been illustrated here as a 2,856,840 Patented Oct. 21, 1958 rectangular flat plate which supports a flexible shade 12, such for example, as a conventional roller shade. The shade 12 is supported on the surface of the deflector plate 11 away from the window as by bracket members 13 disposed at opposite ends of plate 11. The length of plate 11 and the width of shade 12 have dimensions corresponding to at least the width of the window opening 10. The shade 12 should have an area adequate substantially to cover the window opening.

It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the deflector plate 11 and shade 12 overlap the sides 10b, 10d of the window frame, and thus the overal length of the deflector plate 11 and corresponding dimension of shade 12 may be substantially greater than the width of the window opening. Thus, the window opening 10 may be much narrower than illustrated. With this construction, the same ventilating shade device may be used on a wide range of window sizes and need not be custom made for each particular window.

As shown in Fig. 3, detachably to mount the ventilating shade device on a window frame, there is provided on the side of the deflecting plate 11 adjacent the window opening a pair of adjustable detachable gripping devices 14, 14, each of identical construction. The gripping devices 14 include a bracket member 15, preferably L-shaped, one side of the bracket being provided with holes for securing the bracket to the underside of plate 11 by any detachable connection, such for example, as by a pair of nuts 16 and screws 17. The deflector plate .11 is provided along one edge with a series of spaced holes, such as holes 18. The brackets 15 are first adjusted lengthwise of deflector plate 11 to approximately the width of the window opening to which the device is to be secured. The friction gripping feet 19, which are supported by adjusting screws 20, of the gripping devices 14, are then moved against the opposite sides 10b, 10d of the window frame by rotating the adjusting screws 20. Thus, the adjustment of the brackets 15 with respect to the spaced holes 18 provides the major or coarse portion of the adjustment in fitting the deflector plate to the window opening, while the fine adjustment is provided by means of the adjusting screws 20.

The friction gripping elements 19 preferably include a rubber surface that may be moved tightly against the opposed frames of the window 10b, 10d of Figs. land 2 to hold the ventilating shade device securely on the window frame, but without damage thereto.

The friction gripping devices 14 are adapted to be attached to the sides 10b, 10d of the window frame just above the bottom sill 10c. With this arrangement the bottom sash 10e of the window may be opened to approximately the upper edge of plate 11 to admit air into the room. The air will strike the plate 11 and be deflected downwardly into the room and away from the shade 12. This prevents the air from whipping the shade andcreating undesirable noise. j

The cord 22 on the shade 12 may be pulled through a support 23, such for example, as a hook or pulley or the like supported at the top frame member 10a of the window as illustrated in Fig. 2A. The cord 22 is pulled to extend or raise the shade 12 to cover the window opening and shield the room from light. The cord 22 may be secured to a hook or any other fixed support or provided with a weight to hold the window shade in its unrolled position. In order to hold the bottom edge of the plate 11 away from'the window sill 10c and thus prevent the plate 11 from cutting off the entry of air into the room, there is provided a support on the plate 11, such for example, as an element 25 pivoted on plate 11 by means of a screw 26 and adapted to engage the surface of the wall 27 below the window, Fig. 2. The member 25 when moved into engagement with the wall 27 insures that the deflector plate 11 will maintain a uniform angle with respect to the window opening and will prevent the plate 11 from swinging down and accidentally closing the opening under the lower window sash 10e. Thus, the room will be ventilated and at the same time shielded from the entry of light.

In applications where it is desirable to provide for ventilation at both the top and bottom of the window, thus requiring the lowering of the upper sash 10 in addition to raising the bottom sash 102, there may be provided a second deflector plate 11 equipped with friction gripping devices 14 in similar manner to the deflector plate 11 and friction gripping devices 14 previously described. The support for the cord 22 may then be secured to the upper deflector plate 11' and has been illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 as a small roller 23'. This preferred arrangement has the additional advantage in that the fixed support 23 need not be attached to the top window frame 10a or to the wall as in the previous arrangement.

As will be noted in Figs. 1 and 2 the upper deflector plate 11, when in its mounted position, is adapted to rest, along its lower edge against the sides of the window frame and thus will automatically be maintained in its correctly tilted position. Thus, no additional supporting member, such as member 25, is necessary. The deflector plate 11' guides the air away from the shade 12 and thus prevents the air from whipping the shade and producing undesirable noise.

It will at once be seen that the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 utilizing two deflector plates 11 and 11 may be modified to reverse the position of shade 12. Specifically, the brackets 13 for shade 12 may be mounted on the upper plate 11' and the pulley or support 23 may be mounted on the lower plate 11, thus reversing the location of members 13 and 23. In this arrangement the shade 12 will be carried by the upper plate 11' and thus will be pulled downwardly to its extended position for covering the window opening 10.

In one particular installation of the present invention the deflector plate 11 was constructed from a flat board approximately thick, about 9" wide, and having a length in the order of 5 feet. This length was adequate to accommodate most sizes of window openings. The holes 18 were spaced along one edge of plate 11 at approximately 2" intervals to receive the pair of mounting brackets for the friction gripping devices 14. The shade member 12 comprised a conventional opaque window shade corresponding in width to the length of the defiector board 11.

The ventilating'shade device described above is of relatively inexpensive construction and provides for the eflicient darkening of a room while retaining the major ventilating utility of a Window. By reason of the widely adjustable friction gripping devices, the invention is readily adaptable to windows varying over a wide range of sizes and maintains its efl'icient darkening and ventilating characteristics over the entire range of sizes.

While it would be possible to use a shade device of the slat type in connection with the present invention, the roller type shade 12 is preferred. It is here to be noted that by reason of the novel construction of the ventilating shade device of this application, such device may be installed on windows that are permanently equipped with Venetian blinds and without requiring the removal of such blinds. To do so, the slats of the blind are moved to open position to admit entry of air. The friction gripping devices 14 are then moved into engagement with the side frame members of the window to mount the ventilating shade device on the window. The shade 12 is then ready to be raised to cover the window opening in manner previously described. Preferably, the Venetian blind is raised at least as high as the bottom of the lower window sash 10e to prevent the air from shaking the Venetian blind against the window sash and the ventilating shade device.

By providing the air-deflector boards at either one or both ends of the shade, the noise resulting from the air whipping the shade is substantially eliminated, and thus the background noise level in the room is lowered.

While there has ben described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that further modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A universal ventilating shade device adaptable to windows of various sizes within a predetermined range up to a select maximum size window frame opening for concurrently admitting air to a room through the window while substantially preventing the entry of light, comprising an air deflector plate including a substantially flat rectangular area having a length sufficient to extend horizontally across the window frame opening of said maximum size and overlap the sides of the window frame, adjustable gripping devices comprising angle bracket members detachably mounted on one side of said deflector plate to provide coarse adjustment with respect to the width of the window frame opening and threaded members carried by said angle bracket members for fine adjustment and adapted to engage the opposite sides of the window frame closely adjacent one end thereof, said deflector plate having a series of mounting holes along one longitudinal edge to receive said angle bracket tmembers, a flexible opaque shade supported along said one longitudinal edge of said deflector plate on the opposite side thereof from said gripping devices with one end of said shade being fixed with respect to said plate, said shade having a width substantially corresponding to the length of said deflector plate and being extendable at the free end thereof from a retracted position to a length substantially corresponding to the height of said maximum size window frame opening, said gripping devices being disposed near the ends of said plate and adjacent the window opening to support said one longitudinal edge of said plate closely adjacent the window opening while permitting the opposite edge of said plate to project inwardly from the window frame for entry of air into the room.

2. A universal shade device according to claim 1 including means for supporting said shade in extended position comprising a second air deflector plate similar to said first-named plate, additional adjustable gripping devices similar to said first-named gripping devices and carried by said second plate for supporting said second plate at the opposite end of the window frame from said first-named plate, and means for securing said free end of said shade to said second plate for holding said shade in extended position over the window opening.

3. A universal shade device according to claim 1 including means pivotally carried by said deflector plate and adapted to engage the wall surrounding the window opening for adjustably controlling the angular disposition of said plate relative to the window opening when said gripping devices are in gripping relation with the sides of the window frame to control the entry of air into the room.

4. A universal ventilating shade device according to claim 1 wherein said flexible opaque shade is carried by roller means along said one longitudinal edge of said deflector plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 358,223 Shaw Feb. 22, 1887 661,876 Jacobus Nov. 13, 1900 942,967 Lunken Dec. 14, 1909 1,195,681 Jennings Aug. 22, 1916 1,650,918 Whitesel Nov. 29, 1927 2,240,406 Kurtz Apr. 29, 1941 

